Cross-border business under the epidemic: More than 3,000 companies have added medical devices to their business scope

Ebrun Power News: Recently, Gree's KN95 and medical-grade disposable masks went online on "Dong Mingzhu's Shop", using an appointment and rush-purchase mechanism. Product details show that a box of KN95 disposable masks is priced at 275 yuan including postage, equivalent to 5.5 yuan per mask; a box of disposable medical masks is priced at 150 yuan including postage, equivalent to 3 yuan per mask.

This is not the first company to cross-border produce masks recently. According to Ebrun Power's understanding, from January 1, 2020 to February 7, 2020, more than 3,000 enterprises nationwide added "masks, protective clothing, disinfectants, thermometers, medical devices" to their business scope, among which, as many as 3,647 enterprises added medical devices.

After the outbreak, epidemic prevention materials became scarce resources

"Since the outbreak, for the epidemic prevention work of my family and children, I first went to the nearby pharmacy to ask, then searched various e-commerce platforms, hoping to buy even a few masks, but I found nothing." This is what Wang Nan, who lives in Hohhot, said most often to her friends in early February. After the outbreak, Wang Nan contacted all her friends to ask where they could buy masks.

From the beginning of February, people across the country were scrambling to buy masks. Wang Nan's family situation was a microcosm of national families at that time. In the battle against the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic, masks are the most direct protective need in the market.

Wang Nan also asked her friends who work in the hospital, but her friends replied: "Yesterday, the head nurse notified us that we could no longer get masks, and those who had received masks before must also use them sparingly." Wang Nan's friend working at the hospital told her that usually the demand for masks is not so high, so the hospital did not have a lot of reserves. Moreover, after the outbreak, everyone needs to wear masks, and ordinary medical surgical masks need to be changed every 4 hours, all of which caused a shortage of masks.

It is reassuring that many companies have begun to spontaneously produce and sell epidemic prevention-related supplies. Sinopec, Baojun Automobile, Foxconn, Daddy Baby, and Mercury Home Textiles have successively changed their production lines and joined the ranks of mask production.

At the same time, many companies have cross-border added "wholesale and sales of Class II medical devices" to their business scope. It is understood that medical masks and thermometers belong to Class II medical devices.

More than 3,000 companies added masks, protective clothing, etc., to their business scope

Ebrun Power learned that cross-border companies with added medical devices in their business scope come from various industries, including not only cross-border and maternal and child e-commerce platforms, but also automobile manufacturing, home textiles, and Luckin Coffee, which intends to build a smart retail platform.

Ebrun Power has compiled the business scope change times of more than ten companies from different industries for readers' reference:

In terms of platforms, on February 12, Hangzhou Beicang Technology Co., Ltd. changed its business scope to add wholesale of labor protection supplies, wholesale and retail of Class I and II medical devices, etc. The largest shareholder of Hangzhou Beicang Technology Co., Ltd. is Hangzhou Beibei Group Co., Ltd., the operating entity of maternal and child shopping platform Beibei.com; on March 6, the main operating entity of NetEase Kaola, Hangzhou Youmai Technology Co., Ltd., underwent a business registration change, adding several businesses, including "wholesale of Class I medical devices; retail of Class I medical devices; wholesale of Class II medical devices; retail of Class II medical devices."

In terms of clothing, on February 25, Bosideng released an announcement on completing the business registration change of adding business scope and revising the company's articles of association. The company's business scope added "production and sales: medical devices, medical clothing, masks, hats, shoe covers and medical protective products"; on March 2, Aimiu Co., Ltd.'s business scope added "production of non-medical masks (limited to life support during the epidemic)"; on March 2, Shenzhen Quanmian Times Technology Co., Ltd. changed its business registration, adding "disinfectant supplies" business.

In terms of home textiles, on February 25, Luolai Life announced that it added the following business scope: production of medical masks; production of protective supplies for medical personnel (Class II medical devices); retail of medical masks; wholesale of medical masks; production of daily masks (non-medical); sales of daily masks (non-medical); sales of disinfectants; wholesale of Class II medical devices; retail of Class II medical devices.

In terms of toys, on February 13, Guangdong Bangbao Intelligent Toys Co., Ltd., a listed company on the A-share market, changed its business scope to add "production and operation of medical devices; production and sales of disinfectant supplies; production and sales of pharmaceutical packaging materials."

In addition, in the beauty sector, on March 4, Proya Cosmetics Co., Ltd. announced that it plans to adjust its business scope, adding wholesale of sanitary supplies, sales of sanitary supplies and disposable medical supplies, retail of personal sanitary supplies, sales of disinfectants, retail of Class I medical devices, retail of hardware products, wholesale of Class I medical devices, production of Class I medical devices (except for projects that require approval by law, independently conduct business operations in accordance with the business license), production of sanitary supplies and disposable medical supplies, production of disinfectants, sales of health food, food production, production of health food, and food business.

Tianyancha data shows that a total of 64 industries' enterprises across the country changed and added "masks, protective clothing, disinfectants, thermometers, medical devices," etc., to their business scope. Among them, the number of retail and wholesale enterprises ranks first, accounting for more than half, followed by the business services industry. The number of cross-border companies in the technology promotion and application service industry and the software and information technology service industry is also close to 700.

So many companies switched to producing masks, why can't we still buy them?

Despite the large number of companies that added medical devices to their business scope, Wang Nan did not feel that there were "more" masks after the change, and it was still difficult to get one.

In addition to the fact that some companies have not yet obtained the relevant business qualifications, some companies that temporarily joined the production said that after the production of materials, they mainly supply frontline epidemic areas, hospitals, and departments related to virus control, and do not consider external sales for the time being.

At the same time, after the NDRC required companies resuming work on February 11 to provide employees with masks and other epidemic prevention materials, most companies that temporarily joined the production said that the produced epidemic prevention materials are mainly for their own use. Taking Foxconn as an example, it said that after putting into production, it mainly provides for employees.

In addition, after the production of masks and other epidemic prevention medical supplies, they also need to be disinfected and analyzed. The whole process takes at least 7 to 15 days before they can be shipped. At the same time, the gap and consumption of these epidemic prevention materials are still relatively large, and temporarily joined companies have insufficient supply chain, and some links are in short supply. All these reasons have made it difficult to solve the mask shortage problem in a short period of time.

Due to the epidemic, people also want to buy more masks for stock. Worse still, some people irrationally hoard, buying far more masks than their actual needs, which has also exacerbated the shortage of masks on the market to some extent.